Here's what made me finally "get" NASCAR

Never mind watching the race. Hearing it changes everything.

NASCAR and the NFL have opposite problems. The pro football TV watching experience is so fantastic that even with the league's unmatched popularity, some teams have trouble selling out the stadium. Nascar, meanwhile, does an admirable job during it TV broadcasts of capturing the strategy and drama that play out over the course of an enormous oval. But no matter how good your surround sound, there's no substitute of the deafening roar that vibrates your water bottle as horde of stock cars screams around the track.

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But here's something that's a race-watching game-changer: You need to listen to the driver audio.

Snippets of this back-and-forth chatter between driver, spotter, crew chief, and other team members make it into the national broadcast of a race. Dedicated fans may already know that Nascar is embracing the second-screen revolution by providing live audio of any of the 43 drivers to those who subscribe to the premium version of its mobile app. But to me, an infrequent race-watcher who doesn't quite feel the drama watching motorsports on TV, this is a feature that changes the entire race-watching experience.

Visiting the Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend, PopMech got to hang out near the Team Penske/Shell/Pennzoil crew behind the 22 car driven by Joey Logano, who started from the pole and finished fourth. (Teammate Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag, passing Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the final lap as the 88 car ran out of gas.) Watching a NASCAR Sprint Cup race from the pits is an experience you should tack onto your bucket list right now. And it's one that's far more rewarding if you're wearing a headset that captures the conversation between driver and team.

Pre-race ornamental beer tap and solo cup on the number 2 car, which would win on Sunday.

"That 30 is a lapper," someone reminds Logano and he passes cars that aren't on the lead lap while trying to hunt down the drivers ahead of him (a bigger problem on a shorter oval like Vegas). "You got three positions right in front of you," they say, meaning Logano is in a prime opportunity to move up the leaderboard. "Inside, still inside, still inside, and clear. Clear!," the spotter yells, telling the driver when his car is clear of the driver he just passed.

Besides the technical updates, driver audio is a real-time window into strategy and frustration. The driver curses the car's looseness in traffic and the crew chief tries to calm him down. Meanwhile, the team makes split-second decisions about whether and how to pit.

There's plenty I still don't get about NASCAR. But one thing you've got to admire is the fan accessibility, which was on full display in Vegas as fans gathered round for the open-air drivers' meeting hours before the race and poured onto the track surface for a pre-race performance by Elvis impersonators, followed by driver introductions. (Imagine that at a Formula 1 race.)

Sometimes, especially after a big game, the NFL will release bits and pieces of on-field talk between players, coachers, and officials, which reveals the inner workings of the game in a fascinating way. There are obvious reasons why real-time audio is no good in football—you don't want the other team to hear what play you're running, and the foul language of the football field probably requires hours of scrubbing before it can be released to the public. But new tech, especially the additional gameday or raceday features you can follow on a phone or tablet while you watch the main broadcast on TV, can turn the sports-watching experience into something far more immersive and elucidating. Perhaps it could even turn on haters who think NASCAR is nothing but driving around in a circle and trying to survive.